Blogs from Alexandroupoli, Thrace, Greece, Europe

We were up early & had everything packed up & ready to go by 9.30. We said goodbye to Mike again who told us that if we came back next year he'd be gone as he was retiring... Off to cross the border at Ipsala into Greece...through rolling fields of wheat, sunflowers & corn. As we approached the border town the road was almost deserted – the locals use the side roads & this main road for Greece was hardly used which probably explains why they make shoddy repairs. It has to be the worst section of road we had used in all our travels. We weren't looking forward to the crossing what with the expected bureaucracy but we sailed through – no customs checks, no nothing apart from passports & the V5 document for Billy. ... read more

Thought about Mum, nothing new but it's her birthday. Alexandroupolis, henceforth called Alex... (Those round houses in Puglia, Italy are called trullo (trulli plural) They were/are both store houses & accommodation for small holders. And Cathy told me to say we bought fresh buffalo mozzarella at a buffalo farm near Manfredonia, hence the buffalo photos) Booked a couple of nights for our return journey then set off, through Kavala (where the Dyson tried to lead us a merry dance again but we ignored it / her) & back up to the motorway. All jolly simple & only a couple of hours away. We'd decided on a short hop today & tomorrow as we don't know how long the Turkish border crossing will take us. Into the outskirts of Alex & a driver coming the opposite way ... read more

I meant to explain the 3 pictures of the 'statics' on the previous post as the 'good, the bad & the ugly' which were just examples of the city dwellers summer retreats. We're surprised the camp sites allow some of the stuff they do ...... read more

Second day/night at Ismaros hotel It was even hotter when we got up today. Catherine sat outside on the porch where we had played cards before everyone else was up and by the time she came in she was baked! Our first breakfast here and we managed 4 out of 5 which isn't bad. Pancakes were great the coffee ok and the rest pretty mediocre - but that was as expected. We were almost the last in breakfast - and by the time we had finished they were packing away. We had seen lots of brown signs indicating sites of interest before we arrived at the hotel so we went out to look at some of them. The first was an ancient amphitheatre which had been destroyed in 1906 when they used the stone for a ... read more

Well folks its time to sample the wonders of the great and historic country that is Greece and all the modern day pearls of driving on Greek roads. After all the driving through Europe and Turkey it never stops to amaze me how drivers only apply the rules of the road that suits their particular needs. I have to say I have went native a few times myself to survive with lots of hand gestures and mutterings. Our Greek adventure started in Alexandroupoli a reasonable sized town close to where we crossed over from Turkey. We spent two days here and had some nice walks along the seafront but the weather had taken a turn for the worse and we had to break out the wet weather gear that hadn't been used in months. Its a ... read more

OK I'm done my bitching from yesterday - As you might have been able to tell, yes I was pretty grumpy. After a nice dinner (actually the food was not too great but I didn't care) and a long sleep - I am MUCH happier today. We got up this morning around 6 and the wind was just a howling. Thankfully, Barry decided it was a good idea to stay put. It is actually probably borderline dangerous winds. So I'm glad about being able to spend another day here. Alexandroupolis is a cute little city situated on the Aegean Coast, about 20 or so Km from the Turkish border in a region called Thrace. An interesting region at that – historically it has been a big melting pot of Greeks, Turks, nomadic (gypsy-like) tribes and Slavic ... read more

Total Distance Cycled: 357km We were off to Greece today. We weren’t sure about what expect for hills but at least we knew we had a 300m drop in elevation. Unfortunately, 100m of that came from just getting out of Malkara! I hadn’t even got out of town, when I realized that the small repair I made to my gears yesterday had created more problems than I had fixed. Over countless stops I finally got my gears working enough to get to our end destination. While we had to deal with traffic and hills on the first two days, today would all be about wind. It started right at the start and it didn’t stop for the next two days… We just geared down, put the headphones on, and just grinded away. The rest of Turkey ... read more

I probably jinxed myself with my last entry when I said I was thankful we weren't cycling INTO the wind. Today can go down in the record books as being the worst winds I have ever cycled into. I honestly didn't think we were going to make it into Alexandroupolis. Barry had Bike trouble; we lost about an hour with that. We were still climbing a bit and then the winds started blowing out of the South. Not just blowing a bit.... But freakishly blowing. I wouldn't be surprised if they were over 50km wind gusts. We finally crossed the border around 1pm with still 50Km to go. We got a really warm welcome on the Greek side. The cycling was just torture for the rest of the day. Nothing more to say. TORTURE. I just ... read more

Vergina to Alexandropolis we rode 250 miles or so along the Odos Egnatia and stopped 45 miles from the border. We are staying in a cheap portside hotel which seems clean enough. It has good air conditioning and our room is quiet. It did have at least one mosquito but Ashley killed it. It was a long, hot ride with no real breaks though the scenery was dramatic in parts. We passed a town called Drama but didn't stop to take photos. Ashley did very well riding into town and getting his head around the chaos driving here. This town is fairly crazy. At around 10 everyone comes out of their houses and eats souvlaki at a restaurant. It gets smelly and smoky and loud. We enjoyed this for a while then came back to the ... read more

Greece achieved its independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1829. During the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, it gradually added neighboring islands and territories, most with Greek-speaking populations. In Worl...more history